Shaheed Udham Singh, a revolutionary nationalist, was born on 26 December 1899, at Sunam, in the then princely state of Patiala.

Born as Sher Singh, the brave Indian revolutionary is remembered for assassinating Sir Michael O’Dwyer, in order to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. He was sentenced to death and hanged for the murder on July 31, 1940.

LEARNING WITH TIMES

The heinous act of killing around 1000 non-violent protesters and pilgrims and injuring another 1000 who had assembled in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab for Baisakhi celebrations on the command of Reginald Edward Harry Dyer. This coward, spineless and profoundly inhumane act by the British enraged the entire nation, and Udham Singh was not the one to keep quiet about it. He targeted Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab from 1912 to 1919, who supported General Dyer and called the massacre a “correct” action.